The present invention pertains to hot and cold water mixing valves incorporating a valve device consisting of ceramic plates for the control of the incoming and outgoing water flows.
Various embodiments of hot and cold water mixing valves are already known. However, they usually have only one outlet passage for the mixed water. This means that the outlet of such mixing valves may feed only one user, such as a bathtub, a wash basin, a shower, etc., and that places where a plurality of users combined in a single complex are provided, e.g., in a shower stall equipped with a fixed shower, a manual shower, a foot bath, nozzles for water massage, etc., would require the use of the same number of mixing valves or the recourse, as usually occurs, to additional flow deviators.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mixing valve having three or more water outlets to solve the problems with feeding water to a plurality of separate users, without resorting to additional flow deviators and less to a usual mixing valve for any use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hot and cold water mixing valve that is a mixer and a deviator at the same time and thus is able to perform the dual function of mixing the incoming water and of selectively distributing the outgoing water to a plurality of users.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mixing valve with three or more outlets, which may be designed as a cartridge unit that can be inserted into a distributor body having a plurality of attachments for connecting the various expected users thereto or whose components may be mounted directly in the distributor body.
These objects are accomplished, according to the present invention, with a mixing valve that comprises a distributor body and in this body:
two inlet passages for hot and cold water, separately;
a water mixing chamber in communication with the inlet passages;
three or more water outlets from the mixing chamber;
first valve or valve means for the partial or total opening and closing of the hot and cold water inlet passages;
second valve or valve means for selectively opening and closing each of the water outlets from the mixing chamber;
a first rotating member for controlling the first valve means;
a second rotating member for controlling the second valve means; and
the control members being coaxial.
In a particular embodiment, the distributor body has centrally a tank and the valve means are preassembled in the form of a xe2x80x9ccartridgexe2x80x9d inserted into the distributor body axially to the tank.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.